March bulletin

VOLUME 1, Nº 2

DATE: MARCH 2016

Reach the sky Bulletin THE HUBBLE REPLACEMENT: THE JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE

Although those who are building it prefer to call it Hubble´s successor, after all the Webb is the result of scientific development that generated the Hubble, the next step is the universe exploration at longer wavelengths, in a few words, to go beyond what Hubble has achieved.

The most distant objects light is red-

shifted, therefore the observations of these distant objects (such as the first galaxies that formed in the Universe) require an infrared telescope.

Webb will capture primarily infrared images of the universe, has a much larger mirror than the Hubble, this large collecting area means that Webb will get to capture light generated much earlier in time than the Hubble is capable, also it will be in an orbit 1.5 million kilometers away from Earth.

But why the infrared are so important for astronomy observations?, well because stars and planets in for-

mation are right behind areas filled with cosmic dust that absorb visible light, the same goes for wanting to observe the our galaxy center, however, the infrared light emitted by these regions can penetrate this cover with dust and reveal what inside is.

Source: NASA Aura Mercedes Benítez López. Spain

SÂNZIENE — THE ROMANIAN MAGIC FAIRIES

Without no doubt, the Romanian mythology is extremely rich and fascinating. All sorts of fantastic creatures

cohabit with humans in a harmonious, but strange way. Romania is home to some of the most amazing legends and superstitions and an endless source of inspiration.

The legend of the three Fates is present in many cultures around the globe.

In-stead, in Romania, they have a quite special status as they are the first divine creatures to interact with the humans.

On the third day of a new-born baby, it is believed that the Fates are coming in order to predict the child’s future. The young mothers helped by the midwifes, properly prepare the room for the Fates’ arrival. They put different gifts such as sugar and salt, wheat flour, water and wine, different seeds, sweets, books or

candles. In this way, the Fates are pleased and they will predict a good life for the newborn baby. The legend says that the Fates are actually three iele (sort of Romanian bad fairies) with special gifts. The first Fate, called Ursioarea, is the oldest and the tallest and the one who predicts about how lucky and happy the life of the baby will be.

The second Fate is Death, the keeper of the Thread of Life and she predicts how long the life of the little human will be.

And finally, the third Fate is Destiny, tiny and cute, this fairy always tries to balance the previous two predictions so the baby can enjoy a beautiful life.

Oana Jurj, Romania

VOLUME 1, Nº 2

Page 2

WONDERFUL WEEK IN SLOVENIA The first trip to the current Project included 5 students and around 2 or 3 teachers from Spain, Romania, Poland, Slovenia and Turkey.

There was an absolutely “warm welcome” in Sentjur. The warmth of our partners, students, host families and teachers heated the air which is about 3 °C. The first meeting with the others was at partner school. The school was really big and the students were at the age of 4-15 years old. All the students were waiting for us to welcome were very lovely and friendly. They sang, danced and organized a competition about our Project topic “Reach the Sky”. In the evening, there was a big welcome party waiting for us. We all had so much fun.

During our visit, we visited so many different places. We had sightseeing of Sentjur, visited the University of Ljubljana and after sightseeing we listened to a presentation about the Solar System.

We saw the biggest telescope of Slovenia. We also had a chance to have a visit to Slovenia in the past, which was actually deeper in the ground around 2 or 3 metres, by visiting a

museum. After climbing down the ground we have climbed up to the mountains to see the Old Castle of Celje.

From the castle, the view was incredible.

together for a very short period, but it was full of fun and great memories.

I tasted different foods on each dinner, and I learned so many different things about their culture, people and country.

In the end of our Project meeting, it was unfortunately to say goodbye.

After I met and spent a stunning time with very special and amazing people from 4 different countries, students, teachers and the host families, it was not really easy to say goodbye for a very emotional person like me. All I can say about this Project is that it was a great opportunity to get to know different people from different countries, learn different cultures, languages.

And for me, the greatest and the most important thing is that the very During our trip, I also stayed with my strong friendship we built. Now I’m host family like the others. From the first looking forward to seeing them in moment we met to the time for farewell, Turkey, too. they all treated me as if I were their I want to thank to my teachers, daughter. My partner Anita who is 14 is especially to Cemil Gülbahar for the youngest member of the family. Her giving me the chance of becoming older brother Benny is 21 and is one of the lucky students to have an studying Maths, while her older sister is opportunity to join this Project and 19 and is studying English and German. have a great experiences.

Her both siblings are studying at the Mehlika Sinem KAPUKAYA university of Maribor. We stayed Turkish Team

VOLUME 1, Nยบ 2

Page 3

VOLUME 1, Nº 2

Page 4

COUNTRY CURIOSITY SLOVENIA - The green country Many people believe that Slovenia is a very green country. It is a well known fact that it is very rich with forests and waters. There are some environmental specialties that are signature for some parts of the world only. Four major geographic regions meet here. These are The Panonnian plain, The Dinaric, The Mediterranean and The Alps. https://wiki.hattrick.org/wiki/Slovenija

Kočevski rog

Kočevski rog is the biggest forest in Slovenia. Some arts are protected as forest reservations. The most famous part is the Rajhenav forest.

Cerknica lake

The lake in Cerknica is a very important part of Slovenian nature. It is a lake that exists (is full of water) in the spring, winter and autumn, but in the summer it usually Disappears. It was the first documented disappearing lake in Europe! http://zelenikras.si

http://www.thinkslovenia.com

Postojna cave

This cave is the most popular of all of Slovenian’s caves. It is one of the popular tourist destinations. It is also the home of an endemic “Človeška Ribica” - The Human Fish. Now the scientists have discovered that one of the captured ones has just laid an egg. This is the first time in history that they are able to observe the birth and evolution of this endemic.

http://www.postojnska-jama.eu/

Lipica horses

These are white horses that come from Slovenia. In Lipica there are many horses like that and they are magnificent!

http://www.lipica.org/si/ Zala Gazvoda Franjo Malgaj Primary School Sentjur, Slovenia

SPECIAL POINTS OF I NTEREST

 http://reach-the-sky.splet.arnes.si/category/notices/

 http://www.reachthesky.eu/

 https://reachthesky.net

 http://kromer-gorlice.pl/zwyciezcy-konkursu-na-grafikezgas-swiatlo-oszczedzaj-prad/

 http://reachthesky.es/en_GB/

 https://reachtheskyro.wordpress.com/

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/1649151051965368/? fref=ts

VOLUME 1, Nº 2

Page 5

WHAT´S IN THE SKY IN MARCH? Ahead of us is the third month of the pending on the night) Galilean moons. Jupiter year, when astronomical spring begins, can still be seen in the constellation of Lion. night will equal with day and Jupiter will become lord dominant from dusk till dawn. Waiting for us is another series of meetings with planets and the Moon and Mars and Saturn will be visible, getting closer to be in opposition.

Length of day and night in March 2016 Lengthening days will equal with nights in about three weeks. On 1st March the Sun will rise at 06:32 am and go down at 05:22 pm. At the end of the month, the sunrise and sunset will move to 06:19 am and 19:19 pm respectively- this slight difference in the time of the sunrise is obviously associated with the transition to Central European summer time in the last, this year festive, week of the month. During the night from 26th to 27th March we are speeding up our clocks, losing thereby an hour of sleep, but at the same time gaining an hour with the Sun in the afternoon.

The spring equinox falls on 20th March at 05:30 CET am.

Neptune It remains invisible after the conjunction with the Sun at the turn of February and March.

Saturn It’s another planet which will be worth observing as making its way towards late spring opposition. The planet is located in the constellation of Scorpio, near the reddening Mars and the glittering orange glow of Antares.

Uranus It will be visible only at beginning of the month, shortly after the sunset in the still illuminated sky, yet low over the horizon.

Jupiter On 8th March Jupiter will be in opposition and will be most clearly visible. Owing to the opposition, it will be visible all night throughout the month, rising with the setting Sun to be at its highest at about midnight and go down at dawn. It will be clearly dominant among other objects in the night sky thanks to its maximum brightness, reaching -2,5 mag. The face of Jupiter is also the biggest when observed with telescopes and stronger binoculars, making it easier for observes to see the characteristics of the atmosphere of the gas giant together with the Great Red Spot.

Even ordinary binoculars 10x50 set on a tripod will make it possible to see how huge this planet is: noticeably bigger than the stars in the background or other planets, accompanied by four (or fewer, de-

The Sun The Sun has been taking longer naps for many weeks and there have been only five substantial solar flares since the beginning of the year, of which none has contributed to the growth of geomagnetic activity.

Grzegorz Góra, Natalia Gierut Poland